In 2024, the Offender Database reported that Abid Sherzad, then 25, of Afghanistan but residing in a hotel in Oxford, Oxfordshire, was convicted at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.
Abid Sherzad was found guilty of sexual assault after targeting a young woman in her 20s who had fallen asleep on a public bench near London Bridge station. The court heard that the victim had been out for the evening and fell asleep while eating a takeaway pizza that Abid Sherzad had purchased for her, only to wake up to find him touching her intimately.
The victim provided harrowing testimony, stating that she had given no impression of consent and was shocked to wake up to the assault. A member of the public witnessed the incident and managed to film Abid Sherzad, who attempted to evade identification by hiding his face behind a pizza box.
Abid Sherzad had arrived in the UK illegally just nine months before the attack and was being housed in a taxpayer-funded hotel in Oxford at the time of his arrest in October. During his asylum process, he had claimed that his father’s work for the Afghan government had put his life in danger. However, his criminal actions in the UK led to his immediate detention by the Metropolitan Police.
Following the guilty verdict, Abid Sherzad was remanded in custody. He is scheduled to be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court at a later date, where he faces a custodial sentence and mandatory placement on the sex offenders register.
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